ChatterBank2 mins ago
Algae in an aquarium
12 Answers
Hi All
Long time no speaky, sorry I only come around when I want help................ I have been advised to use a somewhat expensive (not really the crux of the problem) proprietary Phosphate remover in my aquarium's external filter to prevent algae. Unfortunately the algae as I explained at my LFS is A) Already there and B) Becoming exceptionally bad. I have lost 4 fish in the last week which; of course I can't directly attribute to the algae "Bloom" but, is still of course very upsetting as I do try to maintain the water in my aquarium for the benefit of my fish. I don't know what to do.
Should I try and farm out my fish for a couple f months while I re-establish a friendly-bacterial colony in my tank / 2 external filters or should I just give up and start afresh without getting my own fish back or lastly just sell my set-up and give up altogether??? (Obviously the latter is a kind of rhetorical question which you only need answer if you don't like aquariums!!)
Please help, I can't bear to watch my underwater neighbourhood going to wrack and ruin my little friends possibly suffering into the bargain!
TIA
Long time no speaky, sorry I only come around when I want help................ I have been advised to use a somewhat expensive (not really the crux of the problem) proprietary Phosphate remover in my aquarium's external filter to prevent algae. Unfortunately the algae as I explained at my LFS is A) Already there and B) Becoming exceptionally bad. I have lost 4 fish in the last week which; of course I can't directly attribute to the algae "Bloom" but, is still of course very upsetting as I do try to maintain the water in my aquarium for the benefit of my fish. I don't know what to do.
Should I try and farm out my fish for a couple f months while I re-establish a friendly-bacterial colony in my tank / 2 external filters or should I just give up and start afresh without getting my own fish back or lastly just sell my set-up and give up altogether??? (Obviously the latter is a kind of rhetorical question which you only need answer if you don't like aquariums!!)
Please help, I can't bear to watch my underwater neighbourhood going to wrack and ruin my little friends possibly suffering into the bargain!
TIA
Answers
1 to 12 of 12
sorry for the slow response :(
Looks like you are very well filtered and everthing. Try having the lights on for less time during the day. reduce to say 8 hours instead of 12.
check your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. if these are not steady it may be that your large water changes are upsetting the nitrate cycle.
cut down the volume of your water...
Looks like you are very well filtered and everthing. Try having the lights on for less time during the day. reduce to say 8 hours instead of 12.
check your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. if these are not steady it may be that your large water changes are upsetting the nitrate cycle.
cut down the volume of your water...
12:04 Fri 18th Nov 2011
Echoing what divegirl has said, we need more info. tropical tank? coldwater? stock levels?
You dont want any sunlight at all to be hitting the tank. IF it does you have a good chance of getting the black horrible blanket algae.
what sort of algae have you got?, green, brown? hair? blanket? coloured water?
what filters have you got?
what is inside your filters?
what lighting do you have set up and what times of day is it on?
how often and how much water changes do you do?
do you have any plants growing in the tank?
You dont want any sunlight at all to be hitting the tank. IF it does you have a good chance of getting the black horrible blanket algae.
what sort of algae have you got?, green, brown? hair? blanket? coloured water?
what filters have you got?
what is inside your filters?
what lighting do you have set up and what times of day is it on?
how often and how much water changes do you do?
do you have any plants growing in the tank?
OK Here we go.
220ltr bow front Rena aquarium
2 x ordinary lights 1 x 30 watt Arcadia F030 Pink lamp marked as "The plant growth lamp" 1 x unknown wattage white lamp on between 09:15 and 19:15
1 x 20 watt blue "moonlight" lamp on in a morning for 1 hour and at the end of the day for 2 hours.
2 x external filter
1 x Eheim 2213 pumping at 400Ltrs per hour, filled in the main with ceramic media and 2 fine wool pads on top.
1 x aquamanta EFX 200 pumping 800ltrs per hour filled with varying grades of sponge media and now a net of Rowfos phosphate remover.
I change on average 50 -75 ltrs of water every week, but have upped this to approx 100 ltrs since this issue began. There is some Java Fern and Vallisneria but lots of the vallis has been uprooted and subsequently chucked!
When the water has been changed it clears a little for about 2 days then reverts vback to "pea soup" until 3 weeks ago it was like gin!
I feed a mixture of nuggets, frozen live food and fresh veg to my fish on alternate days usually, but throw in a couple of Earthworm pellets at night for my cats and clowns!
I really hope someone can help, this is really upsetting my kids and me now, we've lost too many fish and don't know what to do! I'm loathe to go back to the LFS as I don't want to be pushed into spending money on products that don't help when I could be spending the money on food and real aquarium necessary supplies!
TIA
220ltr bow front Rena aquarium
2 x ordinary lights 1 x 30 watt Arcadia F030 Pink lamp marked as "The plant growth lamp" 1 x unknown wattage white lamp on between 09:15 and 19:15
1 x 20 watt blue "moonlight" lamp on in a morning for 1 hour and at the end of the day for 2 hours.
2 x external filter
1 x Eheim 2213 pumping at 400Ltrs per hour, filled in the main with ceramic media and 2 fine wool pads on top.
1 x aquamanta EFX 200 pumping 800ltrs per hour filled with varying grades of sponge media and now a net of Rowfos phosphate remover.
I change on average 50 -75 ltrs of water every week, but have upped this to approx 100 ltrs since this issue began. There is some Java Fern and Vallisneria but lots of the vallis has been uprooted and subsequently chucked!
When the water has been changed it clears a little for about 2 days then reverts vback to "pea soup" until 3 weeks ago it was like gin!
I feed a mixture of nuggets, frozen live food and fresh veg to my fish on alternate days usually, but throw in a couple of Earthworm pellets at night for my cats and clowns!
I really hope someone can help, this is really upsetting my kids and me now, we've lost too many fish and don't know what to do! I'm loathe to go back to the LFS as I don't want to be pushed into spending money on products that don't help when I could be spending the money on food and real aquarium necessary supplies!
TIA
sorry for the slow response :(
Looks like you are very well filtered and everthing. Try having the lights on for less time during the day. reduce to say 8 hours instead of 12.
check your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. if these are not steady it may be that your large water changes are upsetting the nitrate cycle.
cut down the volume of your water changes a bit if the nitrate levels etc are ok. say 10% instead of 50%
It may be that the same nitrate bloom that is causing the green water (if it is) is affecting the fish as well rather than the green water itself affecting the fish directly which I doubt it would.
what you are after is a nice balanced ecosystem with no ammonia, no nitrite and only small amounts of nitrate, some of which your plants will use up and some of which you are controlling by small water changes now and then.
If you dont know what I am speaking about regards ammonia, nitrate, nitrite you need to google a bit and read up. Its not particularly difficult.
Hope this helps.
Looks like you are very well filtered and everthing. Try having the lights on for less time during the day. reduce to say 8 hours instead of 12.
check your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. if these are not steady it may be that your large water changes are upsetting the nitrate cycle.
cut down the volume of your water changes a bit if the nitrate levels etc are ok. say 10% instead of 50%
It may be that the same nitrate bloom that is causing the green water (if it is) is affecting the fish as well rather than the green water itself affecting the fish directly which I doubt it would.
what you are after is a nice balanced ecosystem with no ammonia, no nitrite and only small amounts of nitrate, some of which your plants will use up and some of which you are controlling by small water changes now and then.
If you dont know what I am speaking about regards ammonia, nitrate, nitrite you need to google a bit and read up. Its not particularly difficult.
Hope this helps.
Try here for instance:
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
although its called "new tank syndrome", with the large amounts of water you are changing it may be a cause.
good luck
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
although its called "new tank syndrome", with the large amounts of water you are changing it may be a cause.
good luck
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